Vic Chesnutt Dead?
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MR: Let's talk about a few of the songs. "Flirted With You All My Life" seems to be an ode to "death."
VC: Yes, it is.
MR: When you're writing songs like this, are you coming at them as a catharsis?
VC: "Flirted With You All My Life" was inspired totally by the singer Exuma. He blew my mind. I'd discovered him from Howard Bilerman, the guy who engineered this record. He turned me on to him just before we made it, and I was obsessed with Exuma. He sings about zombies and s**t 'cause he's from the Caribbean. I was like, "What can I sing about with conviction? I can't sing about zombies, so what can I sing about?" Then it occurred to me that I can sing a love song to death because, it's no secret, I've suicided several times. I suck at it, it didn't work. But it's a song about a man who discovers he wants to live. It's like a breakup song with death.
VC: Yes, it is.
MR: When you're writing songs like this, are you coming at them as a catharsis?
VC: "Flirted With You All My Life" was inspired totally by the singer Exuma. He blew my mind. I'd discovered him from Howard Bilerman, the guy who engineered this record. He turned me on to him just before we made it, and I was obsessed with Exuma. He sings about zombies and s**t 'cause he's from the Caribbean. I was like, "What can I sing about with conviction? I can't sing about zombies, so what can I sing about?" Then it occurred to me that I can sing a love song to death because, it's no secret, I've suicided several times. I suck at it, it didn't work. But it's a song about a man who discovers he wants to live. It's like a breakup song with death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a9xmxMe ... re=related
he's chillin' with mikey now.....rip brothers.
he's chillin' with mikey now.....rip brothers.
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from spinner:
........Michael Stipe joined other musicians, including Patti Smith and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, in paying tribute to Chesnutt on the website of Constellation Records, which released some of Chesnutt's work.
Patti Smith quoted from his song 'Supernatural': "I flew around a little room once. A line from Supernatural. He was just that. He possessed an unearthly energy and yet was humanistic with the common man in mind. He was entirely present and entirely somewhere else. A mystical somewhere else. A child and an old guy as he called himself. Before he made an album he said he was a bum. Now he is in flight bumming round beyond the little room. With his angel voice."
Mangum said he moved to Athens, GA, Chesnutt's hometown, in 1991 "in search of god, but what I discovered instead was Vic Chesnutt. [H]earing his music completely transformed the way i thought about writing songs, and i will forever be in his debt."
When asked what he would remember most about Chesnutt, Stipe said, "his laugh and his ability to take a very kind of dark moment and twist it and make everyone laugh at themselves. He had a brilliant way of doing that, and I will miss that for the rest of my life.".........
i have wondered about those gifted with the muse whether in the end it is worth it. the creative process born of grief, guilt, and pain. ride the blue wind high and free. she'll lead you down through misery. leave you low, come time to go. alone and low as low can be.
........Michael Stipe joined other musicians, including Patti Smith and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, in paying tribute to Chesnutt on the website of Constellation Records, which released some of Chesnutt's work.
Patti Smith quoted from his song 'Supernatural': "I flew around a little room once. A line from Supernatural. He was just that. He possessed an unearthly energy and yet was humanistic with the common man in mind. He was entirely present and entirely somewhere else. A mystical somewhere else. A child and an old guy as he called himself. Before he made an album he said he was a bum. Now he is in flight bumming round beyond the little room. With his angel voice."
Mangum said he moved to Athens, GA, Chesnutt's hometown, in 1991 "in search of god, but what I discovered instead was Vic Chesnutt. [H]earing his music completely transformed the way i thought about writing songs, and i will forever be in his debt."
When asked what he would remember most about Chesnutt, Stipe said, "his laugh and his ability to take a very kind of dark moment and twist it and make everyone laugh at themselves. He had a brilliant way of doing that, and I will miss that for the rest of my life.".........
i have wondered about those gifted with the muse whether in the end it is worth it. the creative process born of grief, guilt, and pain. ride the blue wind high and free. she'll lead you down through misery. leave you low, come time to go. alone and low as low can be.
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Thanks for that vid link, sturgeongeneral.
Just got back from being home for the holidays to read this.
Sad sad news indeed.
I'm grateful i saw him open for Wilco long ago during the Summerteeth tour. It was quite mesmerizing to hear that voice and watch him play.
The chair and the microphone that night were mechanical opponents he had to wrestle on stage. Devices demanding negotiation and compromise. Maybe they didn't act up on him at other performances, but i don't know.
His guitar, however...I just remember being struck at the contrast. He played it effortlessly. It wasn't an obstacle to contend with in his performance like the other mechanisms. Just another friend up there lending him aid in his art.
And maybe that's not how it really was at all. But that's how i'll remember it.
Just got back from being home for the holidays to read this.
Sad sad news indeed.
I'm grateful i saw him open for Wilco long ago during the Summerteeth tour. It was quite mesmerizing to hear that voice and watch him play.
The chair and the microphone that night were mechanical opponents he had to wrestle on stage. Devices demanding negotiation and compromise. Maybe they didn't act up on him at other performances, but i don't know.
His guitar, however...I just remember being struck at the contrast. He played it effortlessly. It wasn't an obstacle to contend with in his performance like the other mechanisms. Just another friend up there lending him aid in his art.
And maybe that's not how it really was at all. But that's how i'll remember it.
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